Day Four: Ornamental Pine

It's hard to remember a time before I had a Big Shot or very many punches.  But it did exist, and yes, I did manage to make some pretty decent looking cards!

Keeping in mind that many of my friends don't own Big Shots I designed a card for my Christmas Cards Make and Take that deliberately didn't use one!

No Big Shot.  No punches.

 Not bad, eh?  By using a variety of textures (card stock vs. linen ribbon vs. Dazzling details) and depths (Thank You Stampin' Dimensionals!) you can create an interesting card very quickly!   No punching! No embossing!  Just stamps, ink and scissors!

Use different textures to create interest.

Attention dear reader:

You CAN create a beautiful card WITHOUT a Big Shot!

but it's REALLY, REALLY fun to have one too :)

Click here to see Day Three of the Twelve Days of Christmas Cards!

Happy Stampin'!

Festive Starburst

I am doing a workshop tonight for my former upline.  I always feel a little bit of pressure doing workshops for her and her friends because she was the one who taught me : )  She wanted me to teach a new technique and I've been seeing the "Starburst" technique lately and wanted to show that off.  One of the great things about being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is the bi-monthly "Stampin' Success" magazine that is exclusively for demonstrators.  This month's came just in time for my friend's workshop.  I saw a really cool version of the "Starburst" technique using masking and just HAD to use it for her workshop.  Here it is:

I'm SO pleased with the result and I hope it goes over well at tonight's workshop!  I really like Stampin' Up's "Festive Flurry" stamp set and am LOVING the new "Endless Wishes" Photopolymer Stamp set!  If you've never used photopolymer stamps I would recommend starting with this one!  There are so many sentiments on it and because you can see right through the stamps it makes it so simple to align everything perfectly!!!
 
Here is a list of everything you need to make this card:

Stamps                  

Festive Flurry Stamp Set (item 131778 item 131781 )

Endless Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set (item 133455)

Paper

Whisper White Cardstock (item 100730 or precut 135804)

Island Indigo Cardstock (item 122923)

Ink

Pool Party Classic Stampin’ Pad (item 126982)

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin’ Pad (item 131179)

Island Indigo Classic Stampin’ Pad (item 126986)

Accessories & Tools

Dazzling Details Silver Sparkle (item 127845)

Big Shot (item 113439)

Circles Collection Framelits Dies (item 130911)

Festive Flurry Framelits (item 132193)

Rhinestones Basic Jewels (item 119246)

Stampin’ Dimensionals (item 104430)

Copy paper

Pencil

Ruler

Happy Stamping!

Birthday Cupcakes

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm looking forward to the weekend and I'm sure you are too.  The start of the school year is always a crazy time and this year is no exception.  I started my regular class schedule again this week and am going to share a couple of the cards that I did at this week's Make and Take over the next few days.

I have so many new, fun products that have been just waiting to be used over the summer that I pulled out for this M&T as well as some old favourites.  For today's card I used all new stuff!

Here it is:

Make a Cake Birthday card

I wanted to something simple for this card.  Something that is accessible to all levels.  We had fun with the "Make a Cake" stamp set and the new Silver Dazzling Details from the new Holiday Catalogue.  I love the Patio Party DSP....it makes me want to eat cupcakes : )  Here's a close up of the cake I "made":

Gotta love the sparkles!

I also love the new In Colours Satin Ribbon!  And this month you can get a spool of it FREE with every $50 you spend on Stampin' Up! product....and what is better than free?!!

Here are the rest of the details for this card:

Stamp Sets:  Make a Cake, Made for You

Paper:  Patio Party DSP, Primrose Petals, Midnight Muse and Whisper White card stock

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple (Stampin' Write markers)

Punches:  Scallop Edge Border, 3/16" Corner, Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Hole punch

Accessories:  Silver Dazzling Details, 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon

Happy Stamping!

LOVE for Monkey Challenge 93

Well, I'm cutting it close again for this week's A la Card Monkey Challenge #93.  Honestly, this card has been in pieces on my desk all week but I just haven't had the energy to get it done in the evenings.  Yay for 3rd trimester insomnia!!!  I finally got a full night's sleep last night and was able to get this finished today : )

Here it is:

LOVE for Monkey 93

 It's no secret that I'm a big fan of sparkly paper and the Dazzling Details glitter that Stampin' Up puts out.  So I jump at any chance to use them and I pulled out all the stops here : )  I'm thrilled that the silver sparkle paper is carrying over from the Holiday Mini so I knew right away that I wanted to use a combination of the red and silver sparkle papers for the pennants (using the Pennants Punch).  Here is a closer look:

Sparkly Banner

I used Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and glue dots for the bows in the corners.  The letters come from the "Occasions Alphabet" stamp set.  I coloured them selectively before punching them out with the 1/2" circle punch.   I also took this chance to lots of products from the new Occasions Mini catalogue.  I used my Hearts Framelits and the hearts from the Adorning Accents Textured Embossing Folder to highlight the cute image from "Take it to Heart".  I added "apples" on the trees using the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details. 

Ain't they sweet?!

Finally, for the inside I went back to the Occasions Alphabet set and framed it with Basic Black (Curly Label Punch) and Silver Sparkle paper (Decorative Label Punch).

An inside look

I've also added this card to Shirley's, "Look at My Cute Stuff" blog hop....be sure to check out the other cool projects. 

Please contact me if you have any questions about any of the products I've used in this card.

Happy Stamping!

Monkey Fun and an Amazing Deal

So, have you heard?  Stampin' Up! is offering a FREE (yes, FREE) Big Shot this month if you join the Stampin' Up! family!  WOW!!!!  If you are interested in receiving your very own Big Shot for FREE please contact me!

And now onto this week's A la Card Monkey Challenge!  Terry and Shirley were kind enough to allow me to be a guest designer in this week's challenge and I had a lot of fun creating a sparkly (and jingly) Christmas card.

Here is the sketch for this week:

I LOVED this sketch and quickly decided that "Dasher" and sparkles had to be a part of the card.  Here is my take on the sketch:

Lots of sparkles for this Dasher card

So my colour combination is Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip.  It's taken a while to grow on me but I'm started to love the "Holly Berry Bouquet" Speciality DSP in the Holiday Mini.  The best part is that it has Sparkle Paper in it : )  I used some for the bottom of the "Top Note" background.  I also used Real Red sparkle paper for the "rosette" behind Dasher and some more Dazzling Details sparkle on Dasher himself.  I also HAD to use the new miniature Jingle Bells on this one.  Here's a close up:

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

They actually jingle!  It's great!  A very simple way to add something special to your holiday cards this year.  I'm really looking forward to using them in upcoming workshops.

Happy Stamping!

Fun with Monkey Challenge 73

Well, Shirley and Terry promised this week's challenge would be a fun one and it didn't disappoint.  I had a lot of fun creating this card for Monkey Challenge 73 over at A la Card Monkey.  So, without any further ado, here is the sketch for the week:

Monkey Fun 73

Here's my take on it:

Monkey Fun with Circle Circus

I've been wanting to use the Circle Circus stamp set for a while.  I realize that it is an older set but it's new to me and that's always fun!  I headed to my trusty catalogue to find some colour inspiration and found it in the DSP collection (I love that SU! tells us what colours are used with each set of DSP!).  Berry Blossom DSP was my colour inspiration for the day...Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder, Early Espresso and Whisper White.  Mmmm, makes me think of a morning on a beach in some tropical....but I digress.

Really the rest is pretty self-explanatory.   Randomly stamp circles in different colours on the background white.  I maybe would fill in the negative space a little more next time.  Run the Calypso Coral strip through the Big Shot in the Lattice Die.  Pretty standard....until I decided to use my new bottle of Dazzling Details (see new Holiday Mini for details).  Oh my, what fun!  Glitter without the mess....perfect!  I started with just a few dabs here and then I just couldn't stop ; )   Too bad it's so hard to see in the photo...so here's a close-up of the sentiment.

Happy Day sparkles!

I have to tell you, as soon as I saw this stamp set I knew I would have to get it because "Happy Day to You" is what my 2 year old son says to people on their birthdays.  It's so cute!  I think the sparkle will help make the recipients "happy day" even brighter : )

Thanks Shirley and Terry for a fun evening of stamping : )